About

Sokoto State is a state in north-western Nigeria. Its capital is Sokoto.

A state (North-Western) based in Sokoto was established in 1967. This covered what is now Niger State, which was split off in 1976, Kebbi State (split off in 1991), and Zamfara State, which was split off in 1996.

Sokoto State lies to the north-west of Nigeria and shares its borders with Niger Republic to the North, Katsina State to the East, Niger State to the South-East, Kwara State to the South and Benin Republic to the West.

History

Even before the arrival of the Fulani, the state concept had evolved in Hausa land. During this process some of the Hausa communities scattered over a wide area, had regrouped themselves into major units that are referred to as kingdoms.

Some of the emergent kingdoms include Kebbi, Zamfara and Gobir, all forming part of Sokoto State.

For purposes of vital identification, the people in each kingdom had distinct names by which they are referred to, e.g. people in Kebbi kingdom were known as Kabawa. Not only that, at a later stage people in each kingdom started to wear distinguishable tribal marks which were unique to them.

Fulani rule under the leadership of Usman Dan Fodio started with the Jihad in the early years of the 19th Century. By 1809 most of Hausa kingdoms were toppled and replaced with Islamic Governments under a unified administration whose headquaters was at Sokoto. This continued up to the arrival of the British.

People

Although there were so people who could be regarded as the autochthonous inhabitants, a large number of the people of the state migrated from other parts of Africa, like the Ahia, Mali, and the areas of the Senegal River. The major groups in the state are the Hausa, the Fulani and the Dakarkari.

Local Government Areas

Education

Sokoto State is a veritable centre of Islamic learning and jurisprudence. However, realizing that both islamic and western education are crucial ingredients for socioeconomic development, successive governments in the state strive for the attainment of high standard in both systems of education. Education therefore ranks high on the priority scale of the state. The state is serviced by a university, the Usman Dan Fodio University which assists in the training of high level manpower both for the state and the country as a whole.

Business Opportunities

Sokoto State is essentially an agricultural state with traditional mode of production predominating and more than 90 percent of the population engaged in subsistence farming. The main crops produced in the State are millet, guinea corn, maize, rice, beans, wheat, cassava, potatoes, groundnut, cotton, sugar cane, and tobacco. Fruits and vegetables grown in the State include oranges, mangoes, cashew, bananas, lettuce, spinach, okra, cabbage, pawpaw and guava

Useful Resources

Contact

Governor of Sokoto State

Aminu Waziri Tambuwal is the Governor of Sokoto State. He was elected as Governor after the April 11th General Elections. He is an All Progressives Congress (APC) member and represented the Kebbe/Tambuwal Federal Constituency of Sokoto State.

Right Hon. Aminu was born on January 10, 1966 in Tambuwal Village in Sokoto State to Waziri Tambuwal. He graduated with LLB (Hons.) degree from Usman Dan Fodio University, Sokoto. He completed his one-year compulsory legal studies at the Nigerian Law School, Lagos, obtained his BL and was called to the Bar in 1992.

Tambuwal has been a very active member of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), over the years. He started off as Public Relations Officer of the NBA, Sokoto State chapter between 1996 and 1997. He was a member of the Constitution Review Committee of the NBA (1997–1998). He was the Sokoto branch Secretary of the Association (1997–1998) and Assistant National Financial Secretary of the NBA (1998–2000).